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Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  n  icroreprodjctions  historiques 


Technica!  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  tor  filnning.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reorcduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  chocked  below. 


L'institut  a  microfilme  le  meifeur  eKemplaire 
qu'il  iui  a  eti  possible  de  se  procurer.  Las  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-^tre  uniques  du 
point  dn  vue  bibliographique.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
uno  image  repruduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m^thode  normale  de  filmiige 
sont  indiquds  ci-dessous. 


□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

□    Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagie 

□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pelliculde 

□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

, ]    Coloured  maps/ 

I I    Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 

□    Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  au;i-e  que  bieue  ou  noire) 

□    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

□    Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relii  avec  d'autres  documents 


D 


D 


Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

Lareiiure  serree  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
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II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouties 
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mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  iti  filmdes. 


□    Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

□    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 

n    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurees  et/ou  pelliculees 

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k/l    Pages  ddcolor^es.  tachet^es  ou  piquees 

□    Pages  detached/ 
Pages  detichees 


Showthrough/ 
Transparence 


0 

□    Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  indgale  de  limp 

□    Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 


iprension 


n 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc..  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata.  une  pelure, 
etc..  cnt  6te  film6es  d  nouveau  de  facon  a 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


0    Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires: 


This  copy  is  a  photoreproduction. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  rptio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filme  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

/ 

1      ! 

i      1 

19Y 

1fiX 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

The  copy  fitmad  h«r«  has  b««n  raproducad  thankc 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

M»iT>-'ial  Univ»r«ity,  Saint  John'*,  Nfld.,  which  holds 

a  phi  locopy  of  tha  original  belongiiifl  to 

tha  Univarfity  of  Manitoba,  Eliiab*.t»  Dafoa  Library, 

yVinnipag,  Man. 

Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  oHginai  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacifications. 


L'axampiaira  filmi  fut  raproduit  grdca  k  la 

g^nirosit^  da: 

Mamorial  Univewity,  Saint  John's,  Tarra-Nauva  possMa 
una  photoraproduction  da  la  copia  orlginala  da 

Uniwarsity  of  Manitoba,  Elizubath  Dafoa  Library, 
Winnipag,  Man. " 

Laa  imagaa  suivantaa  ont  iti  raproduitas  evac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  l'axampiaira  film*,  at  an 
conformiti  avac  laa  csnditiona  du  contrat  da 
fllmaga. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  fllmad 
beginning  with  the  ?ront  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impre:,:- 
sion,  or  the  back  cower  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copiaa  ara  filmed  bec=nning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustratdrd  impres- 
sion, and  anding  on  the  laat  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  imprasaion. 


axamplairas  originsux  dont  la  couvarture  9n 
papier  eat  imprimte  sont  filmte  an  commandant 
par  le  premier  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
dern^Are  page  qui  comporte  une  ampreinte 
d'impreeaion  ou  d'illuatratton,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  caa.  Toua  las  sutraa  sxamplairas 
originaux  sont  filmte  an  commandant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  ampreinte 
d'impreeaion  ou  d'lllustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darniirc  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinta. 


Tlie  laat  recorded  frame  on  each  mierofiehe 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —» (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  appliea. 

Maps,  platea.  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratioa.  Thoae  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  expoaura  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  uppar  left  hand  comer,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framee  aa 
required.  The  foilowing  diagramii  illustrate  the 
method: 


Un  dee  symboiea  suivants  apparaltra  sur  la 
damiire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
caa:  ta  symbole  — »>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  ▼  signifie  "FIN". 

I.ee  cartee.  pianchea.  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  dtre 
filmte  i  dea  taux  de  rMuction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  sat  trop  grand  pour  itra 
raproduit  an  un  seui  cliche,  il  ast  filmd  ^  partir 
de  i'angle  sup^rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  h  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  baa,  an  pranant  la  nombre 
d'Imagas  nicessaire.  Las  diagrammes  suivants 
iiluatrant  la  m^thode. 


12  3 


1 

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Landing  Place  of  Thorfinn  on  return  from  seeking  Thorhall,  at  the  left  of  two  ^turnps  in  front  of 
excavaltft  the  " ;  t  of  white  area.  Fish  pit  before  white  area.  ''Promontory  at  the  South  West"  near  fallen 
tree  and  cedar. 


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i 


THE 

■  « 

PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEN. 

A  LETTER  TO  JUDGE   DALY, 

frte  IJi'Miticnt   of  Hje   American    ~f0flrapl)ical   Sonets, 

ON  THE  OPmiOS'  OF  JUSTIN  WIN.SOR,   THAT 

" Trough  Scandinavians  ma*  have  reachid  the  Sho»es  op  Labrador,  the  soil  or 
THE  United  States  has  J»ot  one  vestige  op  their  pressncb." 


ad 

105 


.  >■ '- 


f'iJ.  .;>    ■  "    >^ 


ftV 


EBEN   NORTON    HORSFORD. 


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c.  1 


i 


SECOND  BOmOH. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK : 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY. 

i8^. 


lllllljllllllL,,.  -  IIIWMWIip 


In  t 

recently 
Geograp 
papers  n 
circulaLi 

,    June  i 


The 
it  neces 

Cambr 


PREFACE. 

In  the  interest  of  the  reader  I  have  thought  to  add  to  the 
recently  published  letter  to  the  President  of  the  American 
Geographical  Society,  a  few  heliotypes  borrowed  from  two 
papers  now  in  press,  and  include  them  in  an  edition  for  private 
circulation. 

,    June  i,  1889. 


The  public  demand  for  the  letter  to  Judge  Daly  has  made 
it  necessary  to  place  it  oi'  sale. 


E.  N.  H. 


Cambridge,  March  15,  1890. 


] 


.mgmmmmmmB'mm 


>i .  .'J  w.tsjfPj^u^g&g'JAKi'^j;.' 


THE    PROBLEM    OF    THE    NORTHMEN. 


Judge  Dalv,  President  of  the  American  Geographical  Society. 

Dear  Sir,-  -As  relating  to  my  letter  addressed  to  you  March  i,  1885, 
on  "The  Landfall  of  John  Cabot  in  1497  and  the  site  of  Norumbega,"  and 
published  in  the  October  Bulletin  of  the  same  year,  I  desire  to  make  to 
you  the  following  communication. 

My  eye  has  fallen  on  two  brief  paragraphs  on  page  98,  Vol.  I.,  the  last 
issued  of  the  seven  volumes  of  the  "Narrative  and  Critical  History  o£ 
America."  They  may  be  found  in  the  chapter  on  "  Precclumbian  Explora- 
tions, by  Justin  Winsor,"  under  the  general  division  of  the  Discovery;  of 
America  by  Northmen,  and  are  as  follows:  — 

*' Nothing  cmild  be  slenderer  than  the  alleged  correspondences  of  Ian- 
guages;  and  we  can  see  in  Horsfords  '  Discovery  of  America  by  Northmen ' 
to  what  a  fanciful  extent  a  confident  enthusiasm  can  carry  it. 

"  The  most  incautiotis  linguistic  inferences,  and  tJie  most  uncritical 
cartographical  perversic7is,  are  presented  by  Eben  Norton  Horsford  in  his 
*  Discovery  of  America  by  Northmen^ 

These  paragraphs  are  preceded  by  a  fragment  of  history,  as  follows: 

"  The  question,"  —  to  wit,  the  Landfall  of  the  Northmen,  and  the  trust- 
worthiness of  the  Vinland  Sagas  in  regard  to  their  experiences  and  the 
detailed  events  oi  their  stay  on  any  part  of  the  coast  of  New  England.  — 


gSi^f'.i!g!;';a3 


^  THE  PROBLEM  CF  TKE  NORTHMEN. 

says  Mr.  V/insor.  "  was  brought  to  a  practical  issue  in  Ma    ichusetts  by  a 
proposition  raised,  at  first  in  Wisconsin  by  the  well-kno>vn  musician  Ole 
bull,  .0  erect  in   Boston  a  slatue  to  Lei^  Ericson.     The  project,  though 
ultimately  carried  out.  was  long  delayed,  and  was  discouraged  by  members  - 
of  the  Massachusetts   Historical  Society,  on   the  ground  that  no  sati.fac- 
hry   evidence   existed   to   show    that  any  spot  in  i,'«/  England  had  been 
reached  by  .he  Northmen.     The  sense  of  the  Society  was  fully  [.-'l  cxpres-  d 
iK   the  report  of  their  committee  [.^,  Henr^'    W.  Haynes  and  Abner   C 
Goodell,  Jr.,  in  language  which  seems  to  be  the  result  of  the  best  historical 
criticism  ;  for  it  is  not  a  question  of  the  fact  of  discovery,  but  to  decide  how 
far  we  can  place  reliance  on  the  details  of  >.he  Sagas.     There  is  likely  to 
remain  a  difference  on  this  point.     The  committee  say :  — 

"•  There  is  the  same  sor  f  reason  for  bellying  in  Leif  Ericson  that 
there  is  for  believing  in  the  cxisleme  of  Agamemnon.  -  thsy  are  both  tradi- 
tions accepted  by  the  later  writers;  but  there  is  no  more  reason  f^"  regarding 
as  true  the  details  related  <<.ootd  his  disco^jeries,  than  there  is  for  accepting  as 
historical  truth  the  narratives  contained  in  the  Homeric  pocx  It  is  ante- 
cedently probable  that  the  Northmen  discovered  America  in  the  early  part 
of  the  eleventh  century:  and  this  discovery  is  confirned  oy  the  same  sort 
of  historical  tradition,  not  strong  enough  to  be  called  evidence,  upon  which  our 
belief  in  many  of  the  accepted  facts  of  history  rests.' " 

The  folJox^ing  on  pag^  93.  quoting  from  Bancrofts  Vol.  III.,  1840,  "to 
the  intent  that  though  '  Scandinavians  may  have  reached  the  shores  of 
Labrador,  the  soil  of  the  United  States  has  not  one  vestige  of  their  presence: 
is  ^rue  now,"  says  Mr.  Winsor.  "  as  when  first  written."  This  leaves  no 
doubt  of  the  assurance  of  Mr.  Winsors  conviction  that  Mr.  Bancroft  was 
a  geographer  as  well  as  an  historian. 

Happy  Rafn  and  Kohl,  Humboldt  and  Adam  von  Bremen,  that  they 
were  not  called  upon  to  listen  to  such  judgment  1 

As  to  the  fitness  .'  Labrador,  a  region  of  rocky  desolation,  ice-bound 
for  more  than  half  the  year,  to  be  the  Vinland  of  the  Northmen,  where 


I 


I 


THE   PRODLEM   OF   THE   NORTHMEN.  7 

according  to  the  Sagas  cattle  did  not  need  to  be  housed  in  winter,  where 
grapes  abounded  and  corn  grew  spontaneously,  —  a  land  of  forests  and 
meadows,  —  there  is  among  students  of  geography  no  difference  of  opinion. 
Among  historians  the  case  seems  otherwise.  Let  us  hear  an  Icelandic 
authority  on  Vinland,  referred  to  and  cited  in  "  The  History  of  the 
United  States." 

"  Now  it  is  to  be  told  what  lies  opposite  Greenland.  .  .  .  There  are  such 
hard  frosts  there  that  it  i:  not  habitable,  so  far  as  is  known.  .  .  .  South  of 
Greenland  is  Helluland ;  next  is  Markland,  from  thence  it  is  not  far  to 
Vinland  the  Good." 

As  to  what  impress  may  have  been  left  by  Northmen  on  the  soil  of 
the  United  States,  that  is  not  a  matter  of  authority,  bat  of  what  may  be 
found  by  examination. 

Should  it  turn  out,  after  all,  that  the  Landfall  of  the  Northmen  has  been 
found,  and  also  the  site  and  remains  of  the  houses  Leif  and  Thorfinn  built 
and  ocr".pied  in  Vinland,  what  then  ? ' 

It  is  quite  true  that  members  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
discouraged  the  efforts  of  the  immediate  friends  of  Ole  Bull  here,  and  the 
two  millions  of  Scandinavians  of  the  West  and  the  East  who  sympathized 
with  him,  in  his  patriotic  wish  to  recognize  in  a  monument,  to  be  set  up  in 

»  Against  the  fly-leaf  I  have  placed  two  photographs  of  the  region  of  tha  houses  of  Leif  and 
Thorfinn.  The  .pper  one  presents  a  bayou,  through  which  the  stream  draining  the  eastern  slope  from 
Mt  Auburn  flows  to  the  Charles,  — just  outside  ihe  limit  of  the  picture.  The  extension  of  the 
bayou  to  the  roa.'.-.-ay  of  the  "Bank  I.ane"  is  given  ir  the  lower  picture.  Just  above  the  road  .s  one 
of  th  •  {ish-pits.  at  the  margin  of  high  tide  and  upland  described  in  the  Sagas,  into  which  the  fish  found 
their  way  at  the  time  of  young  corn-plants,  on  their  way  to  spawning-ground  on  the  slopes  of 
Mt.  Auburn,  the  tower  of  which  is  given  at  the  upper  right  At  tne  lower  left  in  the  foreground  arc 
the  remains  in  the  uneven  surface,  before  the  grass  has  started,  of  a  corner  of  the  large  house  of 
Thorfinn's  party.  In  the  distance,  in  the  middle  of  the  upper  picture,  is  X\.^- Promontory  at  the 
5<;«/A«/«/,"  as  described  in  the  Sagas,  from  behind  which  the  Skraelings  'ssued.  In  the  wood  at  the 
right  is  the  locality  of  the  battle  with  Thorfinn's  men,  which  led  him  to  abandon  Vinland. 

The  landing-place  of  Thorfinn  on  his  coming  from  the  search  for  Thorhah,  as  described  m  the 
Sagas,  is  near  two  stumps  at  the  upper  right  of  the  large  white  space  It  .s  the  only  spo  where 
solfd  land  reaches  the  bayou,  in  width  admitting  the  b.am  of  cne  sh,p.  LeiPs  landmg-place  and 
house  were  near  the  lower  left  ot  the  upper  picture.     In  the  extreme  distance  ,s  Co-'ey  ^  H-"- 

At  the  end  of  the  b>ochure  will  be  found  a  survey  of  the  s.te  of  the  remains  of  the  Northmen  s 
houses. 


8 


THE  PROBLEM   OF   THE   NORTHMEN. 


Boston,  the  services  of  Leif  Ericson  in  the  discovery  of  America.  It  is 
also  true  that  they  virtually  caused  the  rejection  by  the  city  government  of 
Boston  of  the  offer  by  the  late  Mr.  Thomas  Appleton  of  $40,000  for  the 
erection  of  a  memorial  in  Scollay  Square  to  the  Discovery  of  America  by 
Northmen. 

It  is  also  true  that  in  the  paragraphs  cited  there  is,  in  carefully  chosen 
terms,  and  in  a  tone  of  conscious  infallibility  better  suited  to  an  earlier  day 
and  another  meridian,  an  intimation  of  the  proper  limit  of  geographical 
research,  and  of  who  may  pursue  it,  in  New  England ;  and  there  is  also 
an  undertone  of  recognized  authority,  —  all  of  which  will  find  adequate 
appreciation.     One  may  a?k,  Is  Massachusetts  a  preserve? 

But  underneath  these  confessions  and  assumptions,  the  first  and 
most  obvious  expression  of  the  paragraphs,  taken  together,  is  the  uncon- 
scious admission  that  the  problem  of  the  Northmen  has  been  again  es- 
sayed, and  the  assailants  have  been  vanquished.  They  have  mistaken  a 
question  of  geography  for  one  of  bibliography  —  and  song. 

We  are  given  an  estimate  of  the  vciue  of  comparative  philology  in 
finding  out  the  meanings  or  spellings  of  anc'ent  and  obscure  geographical 
names.  To  those  competent  to  appreciate  the  wealth  of  revelation  in 
geography  there  may  be  in  so  small  a  matter  as  the  identity  of  Norvega 
and   Norumbega}   this  view   of   the   instrument  which  ChampoUion  and 


'  Norvega  and  Norumbega.  I  introduce  three  fragments  of  maps.  Two  are  from  Winsor's 
"  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,"  the  outlines  from  Ortelius,  1570,  and  from  Botero,  1603. 
The  third  is  a  map  for  v/hich  1  am  indebted  to  the  late  classic  geographer,  J.  Carson  Brevoort,  who  as 
a  "oung  man  served  is  attach^  '.  j  the  Legation  of  Washington  Irving  at  the  Court  of  Madrid,  where 
he  may  have  procured  the  map.  It  will  be  seen  that  they  are  all  copies  at  first  or  second  hand  of 
a  common  original.  They  are  all  maps  of  Nova  Francia.  On  Solis's  map  the  "  river  flowing  through 
a  lake  to  the  sea"  flows  also  through  Norvega,  a  province  of  Norway,  —  its  equivalent, —  as  shown 
on  the  maps  of  the  period.  One  does  not  need  to  be  told  that  the  Norvega  in  smaller  type  against 
the  character  that  stands  for  a  settlement  is  in  the  country  which  Leif  called  Vinland,  and  which 
centuries  later  was  known  as  Norumbega.  As  I  have  for  four  yea.s  been  engaged  on  the  History 
of  Norumbega,  i  do  not  propose  to  go  into  it  here.  This  fragment  is  introduced  merely  to  illus- 
f..te  that  ihis  bit  of  comparative  philology  alone,  to  one  capable  of  appreciating  it,  contams  the 
solution  of  the  problem  of  the  Northmen.  ,  ,•    ,       t 

"  The  French  diplomatists  always  remembered  that  Boston  wr-b  built  within  the  onginal  limits  01 
New  France  '   (Bancroft's  History,  2d  edition,  p.  34). 


ORTEUUS,    1570. 


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80TER0,    1O03. 


"They  sailed  lona  until  they  came  to  a  river,  which  flowed  from  the  land 
through  a  lake  and  pBBseJ  Into  the  turn,.'  Thorflnn's  Sftga. 

'•The  French  diplomatists  always  remembered  that  Boston  was  built  within 


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THE   PROBLEM   OF  THE   NORTHMEN.  9 

Grimm  and  Max  Muller  and  our  own  Whitney  and  Trumbull  have  placed 
in  our  hands  will  give  occasion  for  mingled  pain  and  merriment. 

There  is  another  judgment  which  is  somewhat  more  personal.  It  is 
cited  above,  and  as  it  is  not  impossible  that  it  may  be  the  last  of  its 
type,  it  is  entitled  to  particular  consideration.  It  reads:  "The  most 
incautious  linguistic  inferences,  and  the  most  uncriticxl,  cartographical 
perversions,  are  presented  in  Eben  Norton  HorsforcCs  ^Discovery  of 
America  by  Northmen'  " 

I  understand  this  to  be  an  opinion  concerning  the  trustworthiness  of  my 
methods  of  studying  geographical  problems.     They  r^re  disapproved. 

The  author  of  this  paragraph  has  just  completed  the  editing  of  the 
"Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,"  —  one  of  the  monumental 
works  of  the  time.     The  papers  of  a  large  number  of  specialists,  includ- 
ing  the  editor  himself,  have  been  gathered,  and  the  authorities  bearing 
upon  the  subjects  discussed  have  been  sought  out,  referred  to,  and  com- 
menced  on,  and  the  whole   illustrated  on  a  generous  scale.     This  work 
had  been   nreceded  by  a  "  Memorial   History  of   Boston,"  on  the   same 
general  plan.     Naturally  enough,  weight  attaches  to  the  editor's  opinions; 
and  if  it  were  to  be  estimated  by  the  volume  of  work  he  has  pf^rformed, 
it  would  deservedly  be  very  considerable,  and  there  might  be  some  diffi- 
culty in  fairly  measuring  it.     But  he  has  taken  the  trouble  to  make  the 
task  a  light  one.     He  has  adopted  and  practised  a  method  of  geographical 
research  somewhat  in  vogue,  but  which,  possibly,  will  be  hereafter  regarded 
as  peculiarly  his  own;  and  its  value  in  science  can  be  estimated  by  look- 
ing  at  its  fruit.     The  weight  which  should  be  accredited  to  his  judgment 
of  my  method  will  be  seen  by  a  comparison  of  the  fruit  of  my  method 
with  the  fruit  of  the  method  the  critic  approves  and  practises. 

This  comparison  may  be  easily  made.  I  cannot  avoid  it;  and  under 
the  circumstances  it  will  not  be  unseemly  in  me  to  allude  to  some  fruits, 
already  published  (and  others  in  press,  or  in  preparation  for  it),  of  the 
methods  I  have  pursued.     They  include  — 


IC 


THE   PROBLEM   OF   THE   NORTHMEN. 


1.  Geographical  names,  of  Norse  derivation,  on  numerous  maps,  ancient 
and  modern,  in  Icelandic,  Algonquin.  Portuguese,  Spanish,  French.  Dutch. 
Italian,  or  English  garb,  strewn  from  Vineyard  Sound,  in  latitude  41". 
throughout  the  territory  reaching  to  and  including  the  St.  Lawrence. 

2.  The  finding  of  the  Land  of  the  Bretons  (French)  of  the  15th  and 
16th  centuries,  in  the  43d  degree. 

3.  The  Landfall  of  John  Cabot.  1497.  i"  42°  38'.-the  great  event 
of  the  15th  century. -on  which,  with  all  the  glory  that  belongs  to  it. 
rests  the  earliest  claim  of  the  sovereignty  of  England  to  the  American 

Continent. 

4.  The  Landfall  of  Cortereal  in  1500. 

5.  The  Landfall  of  Verrazano  on  Cape  Cod  in  1524,  and  the  identi^ 
of  Cape  Cod  with  the  Florida  of  Verrazano  and  Th  vet. 

6.  The  Canal  of  St.  Julian  (St.  Johan),  the  b:-  of  the  Bretons,  the 
Archipelago,  and  the  Land  — of  Gomez,  explored  in  1525. 

7.  The  Landfall  of  John  Rut  in  1527.  and  the  identity  of  the  St.  John's 
of  John  Rut  with  Gloucester  Harbor,  from  which  he  addressed  his  letter 

to  Henry  VIH. 

8.  The  identity  of  the  Cape  Breton  of  Allefonsce,  in  the  43d  degree, 

with  the  Cape  Ann  of  Prince  Charles. 

9.  The  identity  of  the  Kj.V-nes  (Kjalarnes  is  the  genitive)  of  the 
Northmen  in  1003,  with  the  Coaranes  of  Merriam,  the  Carenas  of  Lok. 
the  C  de  Arenas  of  Mercator,  the  Cap  des  Sablons  of  the  Dauphm  map 
of  1543,  the  Cap  Blanc  of  Champlain  in  1605,  the  Insel  Baccalaurus  of 
Ruysch,  1507,  and  its  equivalent,  the  Cape  Cod  of  Gosnold,  1602. 

10.  The  meaning  of  the  Indian  names  of  Boston,  the  identity  of  Cabel- 
yauwith  Baccalieu,-Bacca-loo,  Algonquin  for  Bay  food,  Cod,- and  the 
identity  of  the  Juuide  of  Thevet  with  the  modern  Point  Judy  of  Rhode 

Island.  .     r         41. 

11.  That  the  Isthmus  of  Verrazano  separating  the  Atlantic  from  the 
western  ocean  -the  Mare  Indicum,  the  Mare  Verrazana,  the  Pacific - 
was  simply  the  neck  of  the  Peninsula  of  Cape  Cod  near  Barnstable. 


I 

and 

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THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEN. 


II 


,a.  That  Sebastian  Cabot,  in  his  map  of  1544.  "mistook  the  Penobscot 
and  the  group  of  islands  (the  discovery  and  cartography  ot  others)  off  tne 
coast  of   Maine  for  the  St.  Lawrence   and  Newfoundland  at  its  mouth. 
That  the  part  of  the  map  of  i544  including  New  England  and  New  France 
was  an  attempt  to  produce  a  work  that  should  have  the  air  of  ongmal 
discoveries  made   prior  to  Verrazano  and  Jacques  Cartier.  clumsily  d.s- 
euising  some  of  the  names  Cartier  gave,  replacing  those  on  the  Dauphin 
Lp  with  others   in   duplicate   to       "upy  the   space,  stretching  out  the 
coit  from   Plymouth  (the  Bay  of  St.  Christopher)  at  the  Panther's  tail, 
on   his   map.   to   Cape    Ann   (the  prima  tierra  vista),   at  the  best   not 
sixty  miles  to  the  immediate   north,  in  latitude  42°  38'.  until   the    coast 
line  comprised  thirty  degrees  of  longitude,  and  ended  at  Cape  North  m 

latitude  47°.  -  t^e  "'°"*^  '^^  *^^  ^'-  Lawrence.  _ 

,3  That  the  original  New-found-land  of  John  Cabot.  1497. '"cludrng 
the  (supposed)  two  islands  passed  on  his  return  voyage  and  shown  on 
Cosa's  map.  faced  Massachusetts  Bay. 

,4  That  Terra  Corterealis  and  the  Land  of  Gomez  overlaid  the  New- 
found-land  and  Islands  of  Cabot  The  original  New  France,  -  Francesca 
of  Verrazano  of  .524.- embracing  the  same  region,  was  subsequently  ex- 
tended by  Jacques  Cartier  in  1534-35  over  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 
,5.  The  Fort  of  Nr-umbega  of  Wytfliet  (Ptolemy.  1597).  occupied  by. 
but  not  the  work  of.  the  Bretons,  as  Thevet  supposed. 

16    The   explanation   of  why  the  coast  between  Cape  Cod  and   the 

neiehborhood  of  St.  Augustine  so  long  ren.aineJ  practically  undiscovered. 

,7    That  the  north  end  of  Cape  Cod  was  an  island  down  to  some 

tin.e  in  the  17th  century,  as  shown  on  the  maps  of  Ruysch.  Cosa.  Alle. 

fons-e.  and  others,  and  as  observed  by  Leif  and  Gosnold 

t  That  it  was  on  this  island  that  Leif  made  his  Landfall  before  he 
turned  away  to  Boston  Harbor  and  the  shores  of  Charles  River  to  set  up 

his  dwellings. 

I  will  ask  attention  to  only  one  more. 


II 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEN. 


In  my  letter  of  March  .,  .885,  already  referred  to,  I  recorded  that  the 
.!►  -  of  Fort  Norumbega  wa,  first  found  in  the  liUrclur.  of  th,  '«*/«'•  ="-=1 
that  when  1  had  e'nmina.ed  every  doubt  of  the  iocaWy  that  1  could  find, 
1  drove  with  a  fricn,-  through  a  region  1  had  never  before  y.s.ted,  of  h. 
topography  of  which  i  k.«w  nothing,  nine  ,^iles  away,  d.rectly  to  the 
remains  of  the  Fort.  These  remains,  and  the  re^'on  .mmed.n.ely  about, 
were  at  once  surveyed  and  mapped  for  me  by  the  City  Engineer. 

In  a  certain  sense  there  was,  in  this  discovery,  the  'f  ""'■"  °'  » 
prophecy.     On  the  basis  of  the  literature  of  the  subject  1  had  pM 
•hejinding  0/  Fori  Noyumiega  at  a  particular  spot.     I  wen,  ,0  ,lu  spot 
aJ found  it    No  test  of  the  genuineness  of  scientific  deduC.on  .,  «• 
garded  as  superior  to  thi.     Professo    .-nry  used  .0  say.  »  Scence  can 
predict.'     I  had  not  guessed,  -  though  any    ne  may  guess  o   -"-'•£"' 
if  one  does,  .0  test  the  guess  or  the  hypothesis  by  the  touchstones  of  phy  . 
cal  fact,  sequence,  mutual  relation,  harmony  of   all  parts  w.th  each,  and 
the  utter  absence  of  an  element  of  opposing  evidence,  »  what  the  scent.fic 
method  requires.     Koroover,  the  scientific  man  docs  not  hes.tate  for  an 
instant  to  aband™  '.us  hypothesis  if  it  fails  in  a  single  part.euar  to  sus- 
tain <his  test.    The  Fort  of  No.umbe.a  had  passed  through  the  ordeal 
Prediction  aud  fulfilment  of  course  involve  time.    The.efs  record  wa,ted 
nearly  three  hundred  and  fifty  years.*  ,  .,      ,  •  j 

,,.  The  rem.ining  discovery  to  which  I  have  alluded  .s  of  the  k.r.d 

just  ^resented,— />ri/<!rf<'"'  mA  fulfitmmt. 

The  letter  of  four  -ears  ago,  on  the  Landfall  of  John  Cabot  and  the 
,i,e  of  Ncumbcga,  indicated,  as  distinctly  as  at  the  time  '°  ™jeem^^_ 
fi,  my  conviction  of  ihe  identity  of  the  Kjalarnes  of  Thorwald  and  Thor 
finn  with  the  Carenas  of  Lok,- the  great  primary  fact  m  determ.n.ng 

of  Indian  pbr.,™,  .h.  »ri.=r  "«' '"r/^trf  .VS,  on  (ctmpl.ln)     S«"«  "'  T'""''  "'■'•■ 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEN. 


13 


the  Landfall  of  Leif  on  Cape  Cod  and  the  site  of  the  Northmen's  houses 
in  Vinland.  It  was  of  the  character  of  recorded  prophecy.  This  is  what 
I  said:  "  The  map  of  Lok  presents  Carenas  [enough  recalling  Kjalarnes 
of  the  Norsemen  to  suggest  heirship],  the  C.  de  Arenas  in  various  forms 
of  so  many  maps  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Cape  Cod  of  Gpsnold,  and, 
as  seems  to  be  determined  by  the  flags  of  Cosa's  map  of  1500,  the  southern 
limit  of  Cabot's  explorations  of  1497."  • 

At  my  address  in  Faneuil  Hall,  now  more  than  a  year  and  a  half  ago, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  unveiling  of  the  Statue  to  Leif,  I  placed  on  record, 
more  definitely,  another  prediction. 

I  spoke  of  Lei-s  Landfall  and  the  site  of  his  houses  in  the  follow- 
ing terms :  "  He  came,  so  we  conceive,  upon  the  northern  extremity  of 
Cape  Cod,  and  set  up  his  dwellings  somewhere  on  an  indentation  of  the 
shore  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  the  site  cf  which  may  yet  be  indicated^ 

I  added  still  another  prediction.  Speaking  of  Gudrid,  the  wife  of  Thor- 
finn,  I  said :  "  I  may  not  fail  to  mention  that  this  Gudrid  was  the  lady 
who',  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  made  a  pious  pilgrimage  to  Rome 
[from  Iceland],  where  she  was  received  with  much  distinction,  and  where 
she  told  the  Pope  of  the  beautiful  new  country  in  the  far  west,  of  'Vinland 
the  Good,'  and  about  the  Christian  settlements  made  there  by  Scandinavians. 
Nor  may  I  forget  to  mention  that  her  son,  Snorre,  born  in  America  at  the 
site  of  Leifs  houses  —  and  perhaps  it  may  some  day  be  possible  to  indicate 
the  neighborhood  of  his  birthplace  with  greater  precision -h^^  been  claimed 
to  be  the  ancestor  of  Thorwaldsen,  the  Danish  sculptor." 

I  had  traced  the  course  of  Leif  in  the  Sagas,  from  his  touching  at  Cape 
Cod  past  the  Gurnet  and  Cohasset,  to  his  grounding  on  soft  bottom,  on 
an  ebb  tide,  between  the  site  of  Faneuil  Hall  and  Noddle's  island  (East 
Boston),  and  his  ascent  of  the  Charles  on  the  flood  tide  into  and  through 
the  Back  Bay  to  the  first  practicable  landing-place,  the  neighborhood  of 
which  it  was  not  difficult  to  indicate  in  general  terms,  on  tide-water.  So 
clear  was  the  language  of  the  Sagas  ^and  my  conviction,  that  I  veiled  the 
prophecies  and  gave  them  place  in  print. 


1 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEM. 

Half  a  year  later,  at  a  scientific  gathering,  I  announced  the  discovery  of 
the  landing-place  of  Leif  between  two  w-ts  scarcely  a  quarter  of  a  m.le 
apart,  and  mapped  and  photographed  the  stage  of  my  conv,ct,on.  Later  I 
determined  the  spot  within  a  few  square  yards  of  where  Thorfinn  went  on 
shore  on  his  return  after  the  search  for  Thorhall,  and  agam  mapped  and 
photographed  the  result  of  my  studies.  ,    ,  .j  f„r 

'  But  i.  is  only  since  the  .St  of  January,  .889,  that  I  have  took  d  for 
mem6rials,  the  finding  of  which  I  had  with  purpose  vag-ly  pred-t=d 
It  was  not  necessary  that  they  should  be  found,  to  compete  the  demon 
ration  They  might  utterly  have  perished;  but  happdy  they  have  re- 
s  ed  "he  cor  osions  and  the  accidents  of  time,  and  the  encroachment 
of  increasing  population.  The  terms  of  th.  Sagas  were  to  the  student  as 
descriptive  as  a  chart. 

THE  REMAINS   OF   LEIF'S   HOUSES. 

If  any  one  interested  will  walk  from  the  junction  of  Elmwood  Avenue 
with  Mt.  Auburn  Street, -the  residence  of  Professor  Lowell  m  Cambndge. 
!latew  rods  down  the  street  to  Gerry's  Landing,  and  then  follow  the  an- 
cient  Bank  Lane  to  the  point  of  crossing  the  rivulet  drammg  tue  eastern 
s  pe  of  Mt.  Auburn  into  the  Charles,  he  will  ^  a.  the  site  »  *«;'=)«" 
oHnteres.  which  had  once  been  there,  and  which  I  had  predicted  m.ght 

there  be  found.  '  .       ,  ^      i     „  i^«. 

There  are  in  the  inequalities  of  the  surface  the  remains  of  two  long  log 
houses,  and  huts  or  cots,  -  possibly  not  less  than  five  huts, -along  a 
declivi^  of  moderate  grade,  "some  nearer,  some  farther  from  the  water, 
as  the  Sagas  say.     They  have  all  been  photographed. 

To  helo  the  eye.  it  may  be  mentioned  that  throughout  rural  Norway 
and  Iceland  generally  there  prevails  now,  as  there  did.  as  a  general  thmg, 

V    .    .nlv  tn  illustrate  the  method  which  I  have  pursued.     They  present  two 
i  I  insert  two  charts  only  to  ■  lus  rate  the  ,,„ding-p1ace  above  the  Back  Bay;  m 

stages  of  my  -J^f ;  J;,°,":l\t  to  ndividuali.e  between  the  landing-places.  They  seemed  to 
t:^rtJ.::^:::^^^  4ht  roUow  up  the  .ubject,  shou.d  I  for  any  r.«on  b.  unable  to 
complete  the  research. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THi5  NORTHMEN.  1 5 

nine  hundred  years  ago,  wherever  a  leader  and  his  company  established 
themselves,  a  principal  larger  house,  and  near  it,  if  needed,  a  number  of 
smaller  houses,  or  cots,  or  huts,  for  servants  and  laborers  (see  Bjornsen's 
article  in  "  Harper's  Monthly  "  of  February,  1889,  page  426).  The  founda- 
tion- of  the  Norse  houses  observed  by  Nordenskiold  in  Greenland  were 
lo.  r,  .;  d  narrow,  as  these  are,  and  Leifs  house  presented  its  length  to  the 
ScuOi ;    Mch  has  been  the  immemorial  usage  of  Icelanders  in  building  their 

houses  (Saga  Time). 

To  have  an  idea  of  how  long  the  remains  of  such  structures  continue 
to  be  distinguishable,  dependent  as  they  are  on  the  artificial  unevenness  of 
surface,  one  may  read  Lanciani's  description,  in  his  chapter  on  the  ruins  of 
the  Campagna.  of  terraces  preserved,  and  outlines  of  gardens  that  had  been 
abandoned  on  account  of  the  malaria  before  the  seventh  century,  to  be 
found  on  every  hand  within  twenty  miles  of  Rome  ;  or  he  may  recall, 
possibly,  his  own  recognition  of  the  remains  of  corn-hills  planted  half  a 
century  ago  and  left  undisturbed  by  cultivation  ;  or  he  may  have  seen  the 
palpable  Indian  paths  traversed  by  Indians  hundreds  of  years  ago. 

There  are  also  to  be  seen  near  Thorfinn's  Landing  the  remams  of  at 
least  three /./^-/./.described  in  the  Sagas,  all  at  the  margin  of  extreme 
high  t?de,  where  at  the  time  the  Indian  corn  had  just  appeared  above  the 
ground  {new  sown,  Beamish),  as  mentioned  by  Thorfinn.  The  fish  were 
Lending  the  river  then,  as  generally  they  are  at  the  season  of  young  corn- 
plants,  to  find  in  every  tributary  rivulet  their  spawning-ground. 

According  to  the  Sagas,  the  landing  of  Thorfinn  on  h:s  return  rom 
seeking  Thorhall  was  on  the  southwest  bank;  on  which  bank,  viewed  from 
Leifs  house  (afterwards  occupied  by  Thorwald,  Thorfinn,  and  Freyd.s), 
there  is,  by  reason  of  the  mud  of  the  marsh,  but  one  place  where,  with  a 
promontory  at  the  southwest,  such  landing  \.  possible.  It  was  from  behind 
this  promontory  that  the  Skraelings  (the  Indian  mob)  repeatedly  issued 
in  their  canoes,  and  behind  which  they  as  repeatedly  retired, -of  which 
promontories  there  is  but  one,  the  eastern  bluff  of  the  Cambridge  Cemetery 
on  the   Charles.     Verrazano  gives  it  as  C.  St.  Margarita,  and   to-day   it 


^       '  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEN.  , 

lunds  in  daisies  («-.^-'*«-/«-f «-/ J^^f^j;:    •'! 

TT-  r  "e  ~  s  r::  t"  ::^  i:  :^^^  e„a  »< .. 

S  :;::^o.  i;:::!;  Hi,i,  a-a  i..eaiate,y  be.i„a  .e  point  Unown 

J.Zfr.k  a,  .«••   (Vigtusson),  .to.  ^e^'s  l^ouse.  -  the   AW- 
TT//.  on  Maiollo's  map  (Verrazano's,  .5^)  -d  the  Ulp.us  g'"    •    5 
„e,e  set  up  nine  hu„a.a  years  ago.     Ve.a.^o  ---  ^^Jf^^^^l 
leagues  around"  in  .,is  letter  to    he  V^^       «       ^^^  ^^ 

wkkh  a  river  flowed  to  the  sea,  —  Leits  guiae  10 

Thorfinn  ana  the  others.'  „pthods  uf  re- 

.      These  are  among  the  geographical  treasures    hat  my  methods 
,«,ch  have  enabled  me  to  gain  for  the  History  of  Massachusetts. 


THE  FRUIT  OF  MR.   WINSOR'S   METHOD. 


We  liave 


We  now  come  to  the  method  which  Mr.  Winsor  approves 

-;ri!:t::;=:ar:^K:r;;^ain^^ 
i:tit"L°srtm::  r  :air.ren;„^^ 

:L'  remls  d  alearly  effort,  under  the  direction  of  Winthrop,  .0  U,  ou, 
a^  fortify  tue  future  to,vn  of  Boston. 

1  sav  Mr.  Winsor  discovered  the  remams.     This  is  no   quite 
say  mr.  remains  of  an  excavation  for  a  ditch, 

rt^trtoTe  '^c;  rthan  si.  hundred  feet  long,  .  so,. 

■  ,  made,  and  my  finding  the  P'-^-^f.J^J^ro'Dr  MilchMer  and  Professor  Mernam,  of  Colombia 
V£:Z^  rssT-stof^;:"  rtn  aass..  Sc^  a.  Athens,  in  ..  ^.^^  of  M. 
^Ll^ilcaria.     (See  Seventh  Annual  Reports.) 


phices 
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dem« 
and, 

1 
He 

perfi 
] 
and 
rane 
subs 
iSh; 


out! 
folk 


ban 
Ch: 
fort 
tur 

0/ 


THE   PROBLEM   OF   THE   NORTHMEN. 


•7 


Sta€«S  twtht  ft4t  dtep,  and  through  much  of  the  distance  carefully  graded, 
and  paved  ^vith  stone  on  the  bottom  and  sides,  there  were  only  evidences  of 
^^f,ly  fffort  OH  the  part  of  Winthrop  and  a  detachment  of  his  company 
lo  lay  out  and  fortify  the  future  capital  of  Massachusetts. 

As  a  matter  of  history,  within  a  few  weeks  after  I  had  discovered  the 
Site  of  Fort  Norumbega,  described  v.ith  much  precision  in  th"  early  litera- 
ture of  the  subject,  and  figured  in  Ptolemy  (Wytfliet,  1597).  I  invited  Mr. 
Winsor  to  drive  with  me  to  the  mouth  of  Stony  Brook,  some  nine  miles 
(rem  Cambridge,  where  I  pointed  out  the  details  of  a  ditch,  as  far  as  I  had 
studied  them.  I  subsequently  gave  him  a  map  of  the  spot,  prepared  by 
the  Engineer  of  the  Cambridge  Water-works,  and  my  paper  containing  the 
demonstration  that  the  work  was  Fort  Norumbega,  described  by  Thevet, 
and,  less  definitely,  by  others. 

He  regarded  it  as  a  piece  of  guess-work.  Why  should  he  not  guess  ? 
He  guessed  it  was  an  early  Boston,  planned  by  Winthrop,  and  the  work 
performed  by  a  part  of  his  invalid  company. 

Now,  while  a  guess  may  be  evidence  of  the  fertility  of  the  imagination, 
and  has  its  proper  place  in  research,  it  is,  at  the  best,  only  the  extempo- 
raneous chalk-sketch,  that  may  vanish  with  the  f^rst  brush  that  tests  the 
substance  of  its  foundation,  —  the  last  thing  to  be  given  to  the  world,  till 
ft  has  been  tested. 

What  fo"owed  the  guess  ?     Let  us  see. 

He  presented  it  to  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  and  sent  an 
outline  of  his  communication  to  the  "  Evening  Transcript,"  of  which  the 
following  is    >n  extract :  — 

•'  Mr.  Winsor  made  a  communication  in  reference  to  a  ditch  and  em- 
bankment found  in  Weston,  at  the  confluence  of  Stony  Brook  with  the 
aarles,  which  indicate,  as  has  been  lately  said,  that  a  trading-post  and 
fort  were  erected  there  by  the  French  in  the  early  part  of  the  i6th  cen- 
tury. He  gave  reasons  for  the  opinion  that  these  relics  may  mark  the  site 
of  an  tarfy  attempt  to  found  the  town  of  Boston  there,  since,  soon  after  the 


L 


/^^rggrt^^^^^l^'^^ 


i8 


THE   PROIILEM   OF   THE   NORTHMEN. 


arrival  of  Winthrop  at  Salem,  he  set  out  for  Charlestown,  whence,  with 
a  party,  he  explored  the  neighboring  rivers  for  a  convenient  spot  to  found 
their  town,  and  discovered  such  a  place  '  three  leagues  up  Charles  River'  " 

To  this,  as  published,  I  replied  on  the  day  of  its  appearance,  and  my 
reply  appeared  in  the  "  Transcript  "  of  January  9.  I  did  not  dwell  on 
the  circumstance  that  my  paper,  and  its  demonstration  that  the  earth-and- 
stone  works  at  the  mouth  of  Stony  Brook  had  been  described  and  occupied 
by  the  Bretons  (French)  nearly  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  before,  had 
been  treated  as  a  mere  guess.  I  tried  to  place  the  mistake  of  the  discov- 
ery of  the  early  Boston  at  Stony  Brook  in  what  seemed  to  me  clear  light, 
calling  attention  to  the  magnitude  of  the  work  required  to  be  done  by  a 
few  feeble  men  in  a  very  short  time,  —  a  graded  ditch,  some  of  '.',  oiijfi- 
nally  ten  to  twelve  feet  deep,  and  much  of  it  paved  on  the  bottom  and 
sides  (and  therefore,  as  any  one  might  see,  impossible  to  be  regarded  as 
awaiting  posts  for  a  permanent  stockade).  I  alluded  to  the  adverse  testi- 
mony of  Winthrop's  own  map  of  1634  ;  his  diary  of  his  first  visit  to  Stony 
Brook,  a  year  and  a  half  afterh^  had  determined  that  the  present  Boston 
should  be  the  seat  of  government,  and  an  almost  equal  time  since  the  first 
session  of  the  Assistants  had  been  held  at  his  house  in  Boston ;  tht  ab- 
sence of  any  supporting  contemporaneous  or  subsequent  history ;  the 
impossibility  of  getting  ordnance,  baggage,  and  stores  up  the  shallow 
Charles,  falling  in  a  distance  of  five  miles,  as  it  did,  in  alternating  rapids 
and  pools,  thirty-five  feet  from  Stony  Brook  to  tide-water  at  Watertown ; 
the  jealous  Dudley's  conclusive  letter  to  the  Countess  of  Lincoln ;  and 
much  more. 

At  length  Mr.  Winsor's  full  paper  appeared.  To  my  surprise,  the  whole 
of  what  I  had  said  of  the  earth-and-stone  work  as  being  the  remains  of  an 
ancient  fort,  the  story  of  which  was  embedded  in  the  literature  of  geogra- 
phy, was  practically  ignored.  Tq  an  elaborate  defence  of  his  guess,  includ- 
ing abundant  citations  from  early  recoras,  he  gave  the  following  additional 
reasons  for  his  first  conviction  :  — 


"11 

north  ai 
protecti 
ment  o 
not  bei 
Id  mini 
here  in 

He 

overtas 

was  pri 

setts  h 

second 

24,  18J 

in   whi 

views, 

It' 

ations 

record; 

His  m 

seeme( 

its  suf 

the  w( 

Hi 

a  mori 

he  ma 

drawn 

makir 

ade"l 

thebi 

scale  w 


u 


THE   PROm.EV.   OF   THE   NORTHMEN.  I9 

"  The  fact  that  the  embankment  is  continued  three  hundred  feet  both 
north  and  south  from  the  enclosed  portion  [the  fort]  in  a  way  to  afford  no 
protection  against  attack,  seems  to  indicate  that  the  whole  is  but  a  seg- 
nent  of  a  line  of  ci.cumvallation  which  was  left  unfinished,  the  stockade 
not  being  planted  in  the  portions  already  excavated.'  It  will  be  borne 
n  mind  that  just  such  an  extensive  circumvallation  as  may  have  been 
here  intended  was,  some  months  later,  established  at  Cambridge." 

He  did  not  omit  to  leave  a  hint  of  his  consciousness  that  he  might  have 
overtasked  the  credulity  of  his  readers  as  well  as  of  himself.  The  paper 
was  printed  for  permanent  preservation  in  the  Records  of  the  Massachu- 
setts  Historical  Society.  It  was  also  published,  as  seemed  to  me  due,  in  a 
second  letter  from  myself,  in  the  "Boston  Evening  Transcript"  of  Feb. 
24  1886,  'n  which  I  dismissed  the  discussion,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned, 
in\vhat'wa.s  intended  as  the  briefest  record  of  Mr.  Winsor's  preferred 

views,  in  his  own  words. 

It  was  only  then  that  I  fully  appreciated  the  situation.  The  consider- 
ations  that  I  had  presented,  the  charts,  the  measurements,  the  historic 
records,  had  failed  to  remove  the  conviction  that  the  guess  had  founded. 
His  method  required  that  the  guess  shouU'  be  defended,  in  the  face  of  what 
seemed  to  me  the  plainest  common-sense.  He  still  presented  records  in 
its  support,  and  still  faued  to  see  that  there  had  been  a  demonstration  that 
the  worV^  at  Stony  Brook  were  described  some  centuries  ago. 

His  method  permitted  all  this,  and  it  did  not.  in  his  judgment,  require 
a  more  careful  examinat  on  of  the  spot,  -  a  second  visit  to  the  locality.  Hnd 
he  made  it.  he  would  have  found,  a  little  later,  the  water  of  the  pond  above 
drawn  down,  displaying  a  fresh  section  of  the  ditch  paved  throughout, 
making  all  together,  with  the  circuit  of  the  fort,  a  length  for  the  "stock- 
ade"(l)  of  2,350  feet;  he  would  have  found  paved  ditches  :n  both  stdes  of 
the  brook  ;  and  had  he  I.  llowed  the  brook  toward  its  source,  he  would  have 

.  The  length  of  ditch  alread  -  explored  as  indicated  on  Mr.  Davis's  chart  of  Norumbega.  by  the 
.cale  Jhich  le'gives,  is  on  one  .  •>  of  the  fort  600  feet,  and  on  the  other  500  feet. 


''\ 


20  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEN. 

found  ditches,  at  "ntervals,  far  away,  — at  least  to  a  point  beyond  the  cross- 
ing of  the  Massachusetts  Central  Railroad  some  three  miles  above.  Much  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  valley  is  now  submerged  by  the  new  reservoir  for  the 
Cambridge  Water-works.  But  had  his  method  required  it,  he  could  have 
consulted  the  records  of  the  Engineer's  office.  Had  he  done  so  he  would 
have  found  that  his  unfinished  palisade,  designed  to  surround  the  future 
Boston,  was  scattered  along  the  valley  on  both  sides  of  Stony  B.ook  on 
a  tolerably  straight  line  for  three  miles  or  more.'  But  the  argument  by 
which  he  supported  his  discovery  would  have  had  its  substance  but  slightly 

impaired. 

With  a  brief  reference  to  the  criticisms  of  some  others,  I  left  the  episode 
to  be  forgotten.  It  had  not  occurred  to  me  that  the  memory  of  the  excur- 
sion to  Stony  Brook  was  to  take  unhappy  form  and  be  so  lasting,  until  I 
was  stung  with  the  charge  of  "  petversionsr  in  a  work  to  be  sent  as  authori- 
tative  over  the  world ;  and  so  I  have  been  compelled  to  defend  and  justify 
myself.  I  may,  at  the  same  time,  try  in  a  few  words  to  relieve  the  reputa- 
tion of  Winthrop  for  common-sense  from  the  shadow  that  has  unwittingly 
been  put  upon  it. 

1  I  borrow  from  a  paper  in  press  two  photographs  "^  =^  '^'''=''^7•'''/ ''^""^  "'=^V"ofThich  the 
thousand  feet  in  length,  along  the  valley  of  Stony  Brook  and  three  m.les  from  its  mouth,  of  wh  ch  the 
preliminary  excavalons  at  Fort  Norumbega  for  a  palisade  for  the  future  Boston,  accordmg  to  Mr. 

"^'T;:^L""N::fon^^-TS^^^^^^^^^ 

several  phrases  that  now  seem  almost  familiar.  For  example  :  'peaking  of  »*»  '?°f  ^' °"' "/^  ^ 
hav  ng  been  disposed  of,  the  critic  says,  "The  other  in  its  wealth  of  cartographual  -^^"^^^^^^ 
sumpt'uoasness  oi  page  will  carry  the  name  of  Eten  Norton  Horsford  as  I^YS"  t  ac  tanc  " 
rovery  of  A».erica  by  Northmen"  wherever  these  adventitious  aids  can  find  for  it  acceptance 
etc  la).  "The  American  Scholar  has  nothing  to  do  with  this  manifestation  in  h^  b-,  -alf  (*). 
Mt  s  those  who  make  no  hesitation  at  perversion  and  ignore  everything  hat  does  not  serv.. 
their  purpose,"  etc.  (c).  "If  historical  (?)  problems  are  to  be  settled  chus,  there  is  "»  need  of 
'^L'Jm  ;W,.«i"  (rf).  "The  resVlting  books  are  more  significant  at  presen  in  the  study 
of  0  vcholoev  than  in  the  elucidation  of  the  problem  to  which  they  are  addressed"  (0- 

photographs  of  rare  and  ancient  maps,  if  numerous  and  on  suitable  paper,  even  though  to  prevent 
repeated  foldings  the  gift  should  Vave  the  quarto  form. 
(*)  Is  there  danger  of  invasion  to  be  apprehended? 

(J)  Perversion  is  rather  a  s  'rong  word. 

(rf)  Training  for  research  might  not  be  harmful. 

(«)  Vanquished  again  !     But  why  proclaim  it  ? 


Stone  wall 


and  canal  near  the  Noree  dam  and  Sibley's  Station,  Fitchburg  R.  R. 


-  ''^^"■'fsm'i^itmaSiMsm^TStt^lLmjf 


^. 


THE   PROBLEM   OF  THE  NORTHMEN.  21 

Of  course,  a  new  exhibition  of  this  turning  to  ashes  of  the  fruit  which 
Mr.  Winsor's' method  bears,  cannot  prevent  the  publication  that  took  place 

three  years  ago.  ,     , 

Still  another  distinct  demonstration  may  be  duo  to  those  who  have  a 
right  to  know  the  weight  of  the  critic's  judgment  on  kindred  geographical 

questions.  /        ^ 

How  much  did  Winihrop  do  about  k^  Hent  on  the  Charles  ? 
Winthrop  arrived  at  Salem  in  the  "Arbella"  on  the  12th  of  June.  On 
the  1 7th,  with  others  of  the  principal  men,  he  made  an  excursion  to  Charles- 
town  and  a  few  miles  up  the  Mystic,  seeking  a  more  desirable  place  for 
settlement  than  Salem,  returning  by  way  of  Nantasket  on  the  19th.  He 
saw  and  appreciated  the  beautiful  Ten  Hills  Farm,  and  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  natural  advantages  of  Boston  for  the  seat  of  government. 

On  the  30th  of  May,  almost  three  weeks  before  Winthrop  made  his  first 
hurried  visit  to  Charlestown,  the  "Mary  and  John,"  another  ship  of  Win- 
throp's  fleet,  had  arrived  at  Nantasket.     Immediately  after  landmg,  Roger 
Gap  and  some  eight  or  ten  more  of  the  passenf^ers.  of  their  own  accord, 
seeking  a  place  to  settle,  went  with  their  baggage,  am-,,  and  supplies  m 
a  boat  up  the  Charles  till  they  reached  a  point   three  leagues   from    its 
mouth    where  ^he  river  was  narrow  and  shallow.     (It  had  not  been  re- 
n^arked  as  either  before.     The  Charles  is  a  tidal   river  for   nine   miles. 
Shallow  does  not  apply  to  water  the  level  of   which  regularly  fluctuates 
from  six  to  ten  feet.)     The  place  they  reached  was  the  head  of  ttde-water, 
not  far  from  and  below  the  Watertown  of  to-day,^  five  miles  below  the  mouth 
of  Stony  Brook.     They  found  in  the  neighborhood  an  encampment  of  three 
hundred  Indians,  some  of  whom.were  taking  fish  in  the  shallow  water  above 
the  hePd  of  tide-water.     It  was  called  by  Josslyn,  a  few  years  later  (1638),  a 

1  T»„  m^n  Of  the  "  river  flowing  through  a  lake  into  the  sea"  sufficiently  explains  itself  so  far 

1  The  map  of  t^^e     "^"JT   J       J  ^lap  and  his  family  landed  is  against  the  shallows, - 

as  this  paper  >s  '^"""^"f-.J^^^^'P^'J'^^XtweL  the  Arsenal  and  W  bridge,  above  which 

"^r^  ,:r  ?x;i  ^;it?.-a"  ^^"?«'  >-'  -<  -"^'-  "■  -"■ 


!v-'A^i-  ■  a- »^.Mtf'i*).j'.i|g;m 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEN. 

Charles  River,  a  little  below  the  fall  of  which  JV  ^^ 

the  Myst,c  R.ver,  t       -o  ■=-'']^"^\  '  ^^^^^^^  j^e  party  that 

any  o,k.r  river  in  the  --^"^^l^^-^^^l^,  .,eir  town,  inasmuch  as 

::.,,  an.  nearly  three  .ee.s  before  he  c- -  ^  a^est°wn 

The  Arst  order  that  Clap  and  h>s  party,  the    westerne  me  , 
.roJwiirop,  or  any  representative  of  the  government  so  ar^  >  have 
been  able  to  find,  was  to  abandon  Watertown  and  go  to  Dorchester. 
^"  *  «  kn«  '"''  Clap's  par,y  did  not  ,o  ^o.e  WaUrio^nJ 
The  re  ord  is  that  they  went  "  three  leagues  up  Charks  ^ver    to  where 
,he  riv  r  was  "«..»^  and skaimr     The  n^tk  of  the  r.ver  was  between 
Cop P-S  HUl  and  Noddle's  Island  (East  Boston,,    Watertown  >s  mne ^^Us 
u        T  a  the  Charles     At  this  point  they  unloaded  the.r  baggage  and 
"'"";■      and  shetoed  themselves  I  best  they  could  till  tkeir  embarkation 

;r^:;::t:".  >•»  ^i^ »/ "- «-  -^  /-» ^--  "^  -"'- 

^^Xirn:fHrgt';"tl^;-erif  they  had  desired  to,  b. 
cauJeart^t  oLrved,  tlir  boat  with  the  baggage  and  supphes  eoul, 
Z  ^uend  tkesHall^  rapids  and  fall  at  the  Head  of  ,.de...Ur. 

But  why  cotild  they  not  hav^  gone  by  land?  ,  ■    ,  ,i  „(  „i,„m 

whom  they  maintained  a  guard  at  night. 

.  The  Watertown  of  SahonsUU  was  in  the  region  -^^l'^^^'^;ZTtJo^n^^^^         onh^ 
against  the  Brighton  Abattoir. 


"  uiin'ijiaMt'^iWWfe'ttt' 


In 

search, 

visit  of 

the  rei 

early  I 

work  < 

fourtee 

By 

that  a 

town, 

establ 

Ai 

were 

ago, 

hand; 

abanc 

challi 

inves 

need 

dicat 

"Bu 

stud 


Cam: 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  NORTHMEN.  23 

I„  conclusion.  Mr.  Winsor,  pursuing  his  mcAod  of  geograpMcal  re- 
1  Including  the  examination  of  the  historical  records,  and  a  single 
"Toi  an  ho  'o  the  locality  to  which  .  personally  introduced  hin,,  finds 
r  remains  of  what  he  prefers  to  regard  the  foundations  of  a  forfi^ed 
*,;  Boston,  the  future  capital  of  the  Colony  of  M-achusetts  Bay  . 
work  of  Winthrop's  men,  a.  the  mouth  of  Stony  Brook  on  the  Charles, 
fourteen  miles  from  its  mouth.  J 

Rv  mv  method,  with  the  same  materials,  1  fai(        nnd  any  ev 
that  aCof  Winthrop's  company  were  nearer  to  S.0„/3rook  than  Wa  er 
;„:„  sLe  five  miles  away,  till  long  after  the  sea.  of  government  had  been 

-'tit::  *::r Ldthat  riks  .  the  mo^h  o,  Sto„y  Brc^k 
,  \..A  had  been  described  some  three  hundred  and  fifty  years 

""^  '7:  had  pi    *  p""'^''  ™py  °'  -y  '""°^'"'""' ':  t 

Zds  of  Mr    W  nsor  long  before  his  communication  on  the  site  of  the 
hands  ot  Mr.   wi  &  ^^^^  ^^^^^  ^,3 

abandoned  Boston  was  g.en       «^^P  bhc,^^        ^^^^^  ^,  ^.    ^^^^^  „, 

challenge  pointed  -'  \°y";,.„„^  „,„,  ^,  y.,i  before  him  everything 
investigating  a  geographical  question  w  ^  ^^^^  ^.^ 

rrd  r:::r ;::  ;=-  :;"et.er  of  four  years  ago  in  the 
••^rr;tCX::ee"r^r:r;tachuset.  is  stil,  open  to 
Students  of  its  geography  and  early  history. 

I  am  very  respectfully  yours, 

EBEN   NORTON   HORSFORD. 


Cambridge,  June  i,  1889. 


